damon's blog

Before I even unpack my gear or fully recover, I just wanted to say thank you. This weekend was something truly special.

As someone lucky enough to live in Berlin and regularly attend the Fight Club nights, I thought I had a solid idea of what to expect. But this? This was on a whole different level.
The energy over the past few days was something I haven’t experienced before, even in our most vibrant community gatherings.

Everything ran smoothly. The venue was full of warmth and support, with volunteers constantly present and ready to help. What stood out most was the atmosphere—it was electric, positive, and genuinely uplifting.
Even with the event being much larger than our usual meetings, it still felt personal. I came out of each session sweaty, sore, and sometimes totally worn out, but always recharged and smiling.

And for anyone thinking about coming next time: it’s not just about wrestling. It’s about connection.
This event created a space where people felt comfortable, welcomed, and supported. Conversations happened naturally, not just on the mats but off them too.
Over the course of what must have been more than a thousand matches, I didn’t see a single conflict or injury. Just sweat, camaraderie, and a lot of new friendships forming.

Personally, I wrestled many guys I probably would’ve overlooked online—and I’m so glad I did. Meeting in person shifts everything. Chemistry, presence, personality—these things don’t come across in a profile. This weekend helped me expand my boundaries in the best possible way.

To all the first-timers, huge respect.
Wrestling in front of others can be intimidating, especially for the first time. But so many of you did it, and from what I saw, more than 90% of you pushed through that barrier. That says a lot about the sense of trust and support this event fostered. You should be proud.

To SlovakLeo[1] , the founder of Berlin Fight Club and the driving force behind WrestleFest.EU[2] : a huge, heartfelt thank you.
You brought something amazing to life. Even in the middle of all the work and exhaustion, I hope you realize just how meaningful this was to so many of us. None of this would have happened without your vision and dedication.

And to the team of volunteers—thank you for your time, effort, and generosity. You helped everything flow so smoothly and made it easy for everyone to feel welcome and cared for.
Hopefully next time you’ll get more mat time yourselves. Some of you really shined out there. 🔥

This isn’t an official recap. Just a personal thank you—and a little encouragement to anyone on the fence about coming next time:
**Go for it. You won’t regret it.**

See you next year.
And until then, see you on the mats in Berlin.

It all started when I've decided that it's time for a rematch with Yann (2toughwrestlers in 1 team). We've met at 2010 in Madrid and had a whole day and night of various fights. I managed to survive it somehow and slept almost 24 hours after that meeting. Eight years later and about 250 opponents after (on his side) we crossed pats again, this time in Paris. Yann is always an amazing host and a very kind person, nevertheless I was afraid of that meeting, knowing the amount of experience he gained during the years. I arrived at night and didn't need too long to get my answer, I'm still able to challenge him, even today. It was a very rough fight with lots of turn overs and no mercy, he always manages to get all the aggregations out of me. I guess it's connected to the fact that I know I can trust him 100%. He never loses is mind and always stays within the boundaries that we set. I went to sleep with a smile.
The day after we had an oil match which was as good as the one we had in Madrid eight years ago, from what I can remember. Some people tend to be much less competative and more erotic when it comes to oil, this was definitly not the case. We had a 3 rounds very intense fight. The reason that we didn't go on, was that this was just a warm up for the main dish of the day, meeting N (ghostblinks).
I've been talking to N more or less since he subscribed to the site and we never managed to meet, which left me somewhat frustrated. I was following his progress and the fact that he was moving up the scale didn't escape my attention. Therefor I was really happy that he managed to find the time this time to meet. We scheduled for Friday night at his friend's place. There were four of us, but I knew that the first score to settle his between me and N, so we decided that this will be the opening fight.
Friday at 9pm we met finally at J's house. The conditions were perfect, the storm was raging outside and inside we had a big matted room already prepared for the challenge. J (bikermanrr) appeared as the perfect host and a sweet guy, making his best, letting me feel at home. N stepped inside exactly at 9, he was quite formal and seemed to be taller than what I expected, still I had the advantage. We exchanged some pleasantries and moved into our fighting outfit. I expected him to be fast, but didn't anticipate that he'll go first for the attack. It seems N underestimated me, thinking it will be a walk in the park. A few secondns after we founded ourselves rolling over and over on the mats, trying to get the first submission. The first round lasted so long, I can't even remember how it ended. However it became clear that there will be only one fight this night, and it will be one on one. The guys were generous enough (and also amused) to leave the stage to us, curious to see how it will end. Although the height difference it was well balanced and nobody really retrieve the dominance. We're both light-weight and good with our legs so the fight included quite a lot of scissors and slamming each other on the mat. After about 90 minutes we had to stop, as his alarm clock rang. We both tried to get a last tap, but after a few minutes it was obvious that we won't make it within the time limit. As you probably understood by now, no clear winner came out from this fight. We will definitely need to meet again to finish what we've started, and I really feel, we've only just begun. Can't wait for the next round, guess we'll need a few hours this time.
I didn't really travel for fights for some time now, this experience loaded me with tones of energy and happiness. I came back to Berlin all bruised and sore but with a song in my heart. Wish I could do that once a week, the perfect rivals with the perfect location. My only mistake was, not taking any picture of this epic fight, another point for next time.

Last night I had my first outdoor fight for years. Though I have quite a lot of fights under my belt, I almost didn't get the chance to have an outdoor fight. The last one was probably about ten years ago. Don't even remember how did we get to the idea, but this guy I was talking to on GR suggested it. Well, more or less, I encouraged him to have a fight and he suggested we meet in the park. The original plan was to meet on Monday morning in Hasenheide which is quite a big park with lots of hidden corners. The fact that its a sunny week, also helped. We decided for sports and sneakers and fixed the hour and meeting point for the challenge.
Somehow last night (Saturday) I felt bored and decided to contact the guy, asking him if he wants to move it to the night before (Sunday). The idea seemed to be appealing to him and he even suggested to meet now. One o'clock at night, meeting a guy I never saw before in the park for a fight with no real set rules? You can imagine my pulse went sky high, It can be very good or very bad, but probably not just OK. I thought about it one minute more and agreed, lets have a fight now, meet you in twenty minutes at the entrance to the park. I had in mind that the guy is not very experienced and not much bigger than me.
Got in to the car and drove to the place, keeping in mind that I might find myself alone in the middle of the night, as it can happen that he just won't show up. But he did, he was already waiting for me at the entrance, with his gym clothes and all.
We met, shook hands and went inside. The park was totally dark and quite with some fog lying already on the ground, perfect atmosphere to have a fight. We went a bit inside and off road, space was definitely not a problem. It's a new feeling after you get use to your 2x2m mats, to have all that space to role around. We left our things near the three, stretched a bit but really for a short time and went at each other. As I expected the guy didn't have much of technic, however he was my height and though also slim, he has quite a rigid body, as he practice sports quite often. I managed to take him down quite fast with a leg scissors, but after a few rounds he started to ware me out. We rolled around about one hour of back and forth submission wrestling with some nasty tricks, like shoving the other guy's head into the grass and it was lots of fun. After one hour we decided to call it a day and headed back to the car. Damm I need to work on my stamina.
My first wrestling experience was at the park, many years ago and it was totally different. This was really an excellent one. So good, that I've asked myself, how come I didn't do it before? Well, definitely going to try that one again. Seems like that wasn't my last fight in that park :-) Hopefully also not the last match with this guy.